n--his trainer, I presume. He had surprised
Hester Dethridge by barely noticing the house, and showing the most
extraordinary interest in the garden."

"That is quite intelligible, Miss Silvester. The garden you have
described would be just the place he wanted for the exercises of his
employer--plenty of space, and well secured from observation by the high
walls all round. What next?"

"Next, I got to the question of why she should let her house in lodgings
at all. When I asked her that, her face turned harder than ever. She
answered me on her slate in these dismal words: 'I have not got a friend
in the world. I dare not live alone.' There was her reason! Dreary and
dreadful, Sir Patrick, was it not?"

"Dreary indeed! How did it end? Did you get into the garden?"

"Yes--at the second attempt. She seemed suddenly to change her mind; she
opened the door for me herself. Passing the window of the room in which
I had left her, I looked back. She had taken her place, at a table
before the window, apparently watching for what might happen. There was
something about her, as her eyes met mine (I can't say what), which made
me feel uneasy at the time. Adopting your view, I am almost inclined to
think now, horrid as the idea is, that she had the expectation of seeing
me treated as _she_ had been treated in former days. It was actually a
relief to me--though I knew I was going to run a serious risk--to lose
sight of her. As I got nearer to the men in the garden, I heard two of
them talking very earnestly to Geoffrey Delamayn. The fourth person, an
elderly gentleman, stood apart from the rest at some little distance. I
kept as far as I could out of sight, waiting till the talk was over.
It was impossible for me to help hearing it. The two men were trying
to persuade Geoffrey Delamayn to speak to the elderly gentleman. They
pointed to him as a famous medical man. They reiterated over and over
again, that his opinion was well worth having--"

Sir Patrick interrupted her. "Did they mention his name?" he asked.

"Yes. They called him Mr. Speedwell."

"The man himself! This is even more interesting, Miss Silvester, than
you suppose. I myself heard Mr. Speedwell warn Delamayn that he was in
broken health, when we were visiting together at Windygates House
last month. Did he do as the other men wished him? Did he speak to the
surgeon?"

"No. He sulkily refused--he remembered what you remember. He said, 'See
the man who told me I w